1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates generally to swimmer's training aids, and more specifically to paddles for use on a swimmer's hands.
2. Description Of The Related Art
A competitive swimmer's performance can be improved in two basic ways, by perfecting technique and by building strength. Improvement of the arm portion of a swimming stroke, as separated from the kick portion of the stroke, has in the past been pursued with the use of devices fitted to the swimmer's hands. But, such devices tend to be much more effective at building arm strength than at promoting the perfection of technique. This drawback is well-recognized; thus, these hand devices are most commonly used in conjunction with pull buoys and other drag-increasing apparatus.
One genus of devices adapted to improving the arm portion of the stroke is commonly known as a "swim mit." Swim mits have been fashioned in several different designs, but all have some type of web between the fingers to create more resistance against the water than is available from a bare hand. It is undisputed that frequent use of swim mits helps build strength. However, their proper use requires the fingers of the hand to be splayed outward to expose the webs for maximum resistance against the water. This is unnatural. In the practice of proper swimming technique, the fingers are not to be splayed outward. Rather, they are to be held extended forward of the palm in a generally parallel orientation with little or no space between them. Thus, while using a swim mit may build strength, it encourages and reinforces improper hand and finger posture. Further, finger webbing tends to create distracting and inefficient hydraulic interference in the hand-entry part of the stroke as the hand first meets and cuts into the water. Therefore, swim mits have major drawbacks with respect to technique that may offset the benefits they offer for strength training.
Another genus of devices can be generally described as hand paddles. Quite a few different configurations of hand paddle are known, but all are planar and generally rectangular in shape. Various straps, lengths of resilient tubing and other such means are employed to bind these paddles to a swimmer's wrist, palm and/or fingers. Such hand paddles are, perhaps, better than swim mits for strength training because they present even more surface area to the water. However, they too present serious drawbacks to the development of proper arm and hand technique.
One drawback is that only the strongest and most experienced swimmers tend to benefit from hand paddle training. During the earliest part of the stroke when the hand is being driven downward just after entering the water, as in the freestyle, or crawl, stroke, conventional hand paddles put great stress on the shoulders. Above-average strength is therefore required to endure this stress without suffering immediate fatigue and risking injury. And, above-average strength is also required for the swimmer to avoid breaking form throughout the entire cycle of the stroke in response to the great resistance created by a hand paddle. The swimmer must, therefore, have well-established technique as well because, otherwise, hand paddle resistance will reinforce bad habits such as the failure to pull consistently throughout the entire stroke.
Another drawback is that all hand paddles have squared-off forward edges (i.e. blunt, straight and perpendicular to the direction of hand motion) which cause them to create a great amount of inefficient turbulence. They also tend to dive upon hand-entry, preventing the hand from following a proper planing motion in that part of the stroke. And, they are prone to wobble and pull away from the palm during the rearward portion of the stroke, even when a proper path is being followed.
Further, the power faces, or lower faces, of these conventional hand paddles, as opposed to the opposite, non-power face which is adapted to be bound to the swimmer's hand, are more or less planar. This permits a paddle so constructed to skid from side-to-side, or to wobble, upon hand-entry and immediately thereafter during the earliest power-generating part of the stroke. Even paddles having perforations therethrough, or textured lower surfaces, tend to be subject to the same problems.
Finally, conventional hand paddles inhibit a swimmer's achievement of proper body roll and elbow height. The preferred technique includes rotation of the hand just prior to its breaking the surface, so that the thumb side of the hand is lowest and the palm is turned upward at roughly a 45 degree angle, or so, from the water's surface. This rotation of the hand requires the elbow to be canted upward; if done properly it permits the hand to slice into the water's surface with minimal resistance. Upon breaking the surface and driving the hand forward the palm is rotated into a parallel relation with the surface and the planing action starts. Maximum reach is achieved by thrusting the shoulder forward as planing begins. This forward motion of the shoulder also causes the shoulder to dip downward which, when repeated sequentially, causes the body to roll from side to side. Unfortunately, conventional hand paddles disrupt this shoulder and elbow motion; they cause the training swimmer to throw the arm forward and to slap the surface with the paddle instead of slicing the hand in and planing.
Thus, although hand paddles may build strength, they cause the hand to follow an unnatural path of travel and thereby hurt technique.
Accordingly, it appears that a need exists for a device that permits a swimmer to train for strength in the arm portion of a stroke while teaching and reinforcing proper technique.